Afroman at Club 66

See Afroman videos — Since the eighth grade, Afroman (nee Joseph Foreman) has used his raps as a weapon against anyone who dares mess with him.

By Teresa Thomas

Since the eighth grade, Afroman (nee Joseph Foreman) has used his raps as a weapon against anyone who dares mess with him.

Sadly, one English teacher, Miss Hoebler of Sage Junior High School in Palmdale, Calif., wasn't warned of her student's coping mechanism and sent Foreman to the principal's office after Foreman flipped off another student for making a racist joke.

Foreman had been to the office several times, typically for sagging his pants, but this time, it meant he wouldn't be able to attend his class field trip, so the vengeful teen donned his aluminum foil bling and wrote a rap about poor Miss Hoebler and distributed 400 copies of it to the student body.

The song's opening rhyme goes: "I got an English teacher from Minnesota. She look so bad she remind me of Yoda."

"After that, I was the coolest kid in school and had two girlfriends who walked around with me at all times," says the now 30-something-year-old, Grammy-nominated rapper.

Although the escapade put him on the map, Foreman, who assumed the moniker Afroman during his college years, didn't go pro until 1999.

This month, Foreman, who is based in Cincinnati, makes his way west as part of what he calls his "reefer retirement tour." The tour isn't really about marijuana but about Foreman's last fling before he retires from his "knuckleheadedness and goes big."

The tour includes a show at 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26, at Club 66, 1951 Ashland St., Ashland.

Last week, Foreman released rough-draft versions of 12 new albums, including "Marijuana Music," "Pothead Pimp," "Cross-country Pimpin' " and "Afro-d-z-acc," on his website, www.afromanmuzzicc.com.

"I wanted to go for a Guinness world record for most albums released by one artist at one time," he says.

On most of the albums, Foreman aims to inspire, with the exception of his 28-track "F#@% Everybody" album, an outlet for all his pent-up hostility and negativity.

"Before each show, I get out and shake hands with people and ask them what they want to hear," he says. "Then I go backstage and make a relevant playlist and send them home happy."

Foreman raps, sings and plays guitar. At Club 66, he'll be joined by St. Louis rock and comedy duo The Beach Bum Alcoholics, as well as reggae band The Illies, hip-hop and reggae artist Mista Chief, and rootsy world-music duo Frankie Hernandez and Lucas Hieronymus.